I've been asking myself “How can I help?” since the pandemic started. The answer came, of course, in unexpected ways.
At first I was focusing my energy on closing Juniper Tree and grieving our magical space for children and families to be together -- connecting, playing and growing on a day-to-day basis. Then my beloved grandpa Jack died, and days later my grandmother Grace fell and broke her knee. I spent a month and a half taking care of her at her home in Washington. This was a profound period for me. For the first time in nearly 20 years I was able to go back to Washington as a grown woman and be with my paternal family. I was now able to truly give back to my grandparents -- who had in many ways raised me, since my parents were teenagers when I was born and still seeking to find themselves during a powerful time in history when gender roles and paradigms were shifting. In some ways the times were similar to today: all of our inherited values and established ways of doing things are up for reevaluation, personally and culturally, and we are reckoning with systemic inequities and racial injustice more deeply than ever before.
Now I’m back in California and, like most of us, I’m questioning what I want to do and what has real value. As is the case with so many of us, I have friends who have lost parents, grandparents, siblings, and even children during this time. Marriages have dissolved or strengthened or simply endured. So many friends are struggling. Children are struggling with loneliness, disconnection, even depression, and are more hooked into technology than ever.
I don't claim to have the answers to the “fix” we’re all in, but I do know that this is a time of great change, opportunity, and transformation. I know that we need places where we can be honest and feel unconditionally what is coming up, so we can grow and fully show up for ourselves, our families, and our communities.
If you are looking for a place (a virtual place) where you can be heard and supported every week, I’m available. If you have a friend who could use some support, if you are struggling in your marriage or with your children or know parents that are struggling, I’m available for guidance and a compassionate holder of space for children, teens and adults. I will help you find your own answers through self inquiry, mindful practices, play and heart-opening modalities. Let's talk.
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